Treasure hunting off Florida's East Coast can turn people into millionaires with one find.
News 6 recently spoke with treasure hunter John Brandon, with 1715 Fleet Queens Jewels LLC.
Brandon started treasure hunting with the legendary Mel Fisher as a teenager.
Through his years of treasure hunting, Brandon said he's found between $30 to 40 million.
However, one person doesn’t get to keep all of the loot.
The state of Florida keeps 20 percent of all new and unique finds. Also, boats and divers are expensive. Historians and archeologists are needed for most big hits, Brandon said. In some cases, it can take decades to find all of the booty from a particular ship.
It took Fisher and Brandon 17 years to find the legendary Nuestra Senora De Atocha in the Florida Keys, but the hunt payed off.
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Gold bars and gold and silver coins recovered by Captain John Brandon and the crew of the M/V Endeavor, on John’s birthday, July 28, 1982. There were five 22 carat gold bars weighing a combined 12.5 pounds, ten small 22 carat gold pieces weighing a combined 2.5 pounds, 24 large 8 Escudo gold coins or gold doubloons, one small gold coin and 165 silver coins mostly 8 Reale pieces. All recovered at Corrigan’s Wreck just offshore of John’s Island, Vero Beach, Florida in 1982. Image from the John Brandon Collection.Captain John Brandon shows off gold coins. Image from the John Brandon Collection.Chas Francoviglia and Captain John Brandon show off double hands full of gold coins recovered at the Douglas Beach Wreck just south of Ft. Pierce Inlet in 1999. Image from the John Brandon Collection.Captain John Brandon’s salvage vessel the M/V Endeavor at anchor at the Douglas Beach Wreck just south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet. The Ocean Village condominiums along the south beach in Ft. Pierce can be seen in the background. Mel Fisher bought the Endeavor for John in 1980 and the Endeavor has become one of the most successful treasure salvage vessels ever to have worked off Florida. Mid-2000s from the John Brandon Collection.Captain John Brandon just recovered Gold Doubloon found at the Douglas Beach Wreck just south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet in 1988. Image from the John Brandon Collection.Captain John Brandon with just-recovered 8 Escudo gold coin. Found at the Douglas Beach Wreck just south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet in 2009. Image from the John Brandon Collection.John Brandon and Laney Southerly with gold bars and gold coins recovered from Corrigan’s Wreck off John’s Island, Vero Beach, Florida in 1982. Image from the John Brandon Collection.John Brandon with just-found 1715 fleet gold coin recovered at the Douglas Beach Wreck just south of Ft. Pierce Inlet in 2014. Image from the John Brandon Collection.John Brandon with just-found 1715 fleet gold coin recovered at the Douglas Beach Wreck just south of Ft. Pierce Inlet. Image from the John Brandon Collection.Capt. John Brandon with rare bronze mariner’s astrolabe recovered by John, Dan Porter and the crew of the M/V Endeavor from the 1628 Lucaya Wreck off of Grand Bahama Island. There are less than 100 mariner’s astrolabes known to exist. This one is dated 1602. Image taken in 1994 from the John Brandon Collection.Archaeologist’s Dave Moore’s In Situ drawing of the “Knee of the Head” with the “Trail Board” still attached. The Knee of the Head is the section of wood at the very bow of a sailing vessel where the bow sprit would have been attached. The Trail Board was attached to the Knee of the Head. The entire piece of wood weighed probably in excess of 1,000 pounds, so the Trail Board was removed and recovered. Recovered off John’s Island, Vero Beach, Florida in 1985.John Brandon surfaces with the most ornately carved section of wood ever recovered from a Spanish galleon off Florida and possibly the entire Western Hemisphere. Called the “Trail Board,” it is the section of wood immediately aft of the figure head on a sailing vessel. Recovered at the 1715 fleet Corrigan’s Wreck, just off John’s Island, in Vero Beach, Florida in 1985. Image from the John Brandon Collection.Captain John Brandon with just-recovered gold earring with pearls. Recovered at the Douglas Beach Wreck Site just south of Ft. Pierce Inlet in 2005. Image from the John Brandon Collection.Some of the almost 2,000 silver pieces of eight that John Brandon and his crew, Vero Beach resident Richard Turner and Miami resident Jim Solanick, recovered in 1979 from an unidentified Spanish shipwreck known locally as the Green Cabin Wreck and located just south of Wabasso Beach, Florida. These coins provided the numismatic evidence that this shipwreck may possibly be the Almiranta of the Honduran fleet the San Martin, which was lost along this area of the Florida coast in 1618. None of the coins recovered postdate 1618. Image taken in 1979 from the John Brandon Collection.Spanish silver coins recovered by John Brandon and his crew, Vero Beach resident Richard Turner and Miami resident Jim Solanick, from a Spanish galleon wrecked off of Lucaya, Grand Bahama Island circa 1628. Image taken in 1980 from the John Brandon Collection.John Brandon with his first big find of Spanish silver coins at the Douglas Beach Wreck. Approximately 1,200 coins were recovered by John, Captain Demostines “Moe” Molinar and the crew of the M/V Virgalona over two days in 1971. Image from the John Brandon Collection.John Brandon with clump of 20, 2 Reale silver coins recovered not more than 100 feet from where he found his first coins at the Douglas Beach Wreck in 1971, 38 years later. Image taken in 2009 from the John Brandon Collection.John Brandon at age 17 with his first handful of Spanish 8 Reale silver coins recovered from the Douglas Beach Wreck just south of Ft. Pierce Inlet. Image taken in 1971 from the John Brandon Collection.The days find of 200 plus silver coins and artifacts by John Brandon after a storm on the beach at John’s Island, in Vero Beach, Florida in the late 1970s. Image from the John Brandon Collection.From Left: John Brandon, Jim Solanick and Fred “Booker” Turner. Treasure recoveries of 1715 fleet gold and silver coins found on the beach at John’s Island in Vero Beach, Florida in the mid-1970s. Image from the John Brandon Collection.From Left: John Brandon, Vicki Hart, Ringo Starr and Hank Hart. Ringo is holding an 8 Reale silver coin (in box) and certificate of authenticity, recovered from the wreck of the 1622 Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, that John gave him for his birthday. Image from the John Brandon Collection.John Brandon and longtime friend and mentor Mel Fisher conduct a magnetometer survey in early 1998 aboard the M/V Endeavor. They were fittingly surveying the Douglas Beach Wreck just to the south of the Ft. Pierce Inlet, the Spanish galleon where Mel made his first significant treasure discoveries in 1964. This was Mel’s last treasure hunt at sea as he would pass later that year. Image taken in 1998 from the John Brandon Collection.Captain John Brandon with eight foot gold chain and three links of a magnificent gold belt or girdle of the type worn by Spanish royalty in the early 17th century. Recovered by John and the crew of the M/V Endeavor in 1982, while working with Mel Fisher and his Treasure Salvors, Inc. in ongoing explorations and recoveries on the 1622 wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha. Image taken in 1982 from Don Kincaid.
Gold bars and gold and silver coins recovered by Captain John Brandon and the crew of the M/V Endeavor, on John’s birthday, July 28, 1982. There were five 22 carat gold bars weighing a combined 12.5 pounds, ten small 22 carat gold pieces weighing a combined 2.5 pounds, 24 large 8 Escudo gold coins or gold doubloons, one small gold coin and 165 silver coins mostly 8 Reale pieces. All recovered at Corrigan’s Wreck just offshore of John’s Island, Vero Beach, Florida in 1982. Image from the John Brandon Collection.
The team found treasure beyond their wildest dreams, including a huge pile of 300-year-old silver bars. Each bar is 80 pounds of pure silver. Brandon says today, each bar is valued at close to $80,000.
The Atlantic Ocean off Florida's coast included a busy trading route from the New World back to Spain. Huge convoys of Spanish ships transported massive amounts of loot. Hurricanes sunk many of those ships.
Brandon said billions of dollars in booty is still waiting to be found.
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